Your Turn — Dec. 8, 2012

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December 8, 2012
: Updated: December 8, 2012 12:00am

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) listens during a news conference after a House Republican conference meeting December 5, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The House Republican leadership held a news conference to discuss its negotiations with the White House on the fiscal cliff issue.

I have read the articles and arguments about drug testing for people receiving benefits. I have been drug-tested for every job I have worked. I had them done even though I was working for the money earned.

The argument that they are discriminatory is totally ridiculous. These people are receiving money and not working for it.

I think that it would be wise for the government to make sure that the money goes for the proper purposes and not for the purchase of drugs.

I also believe that it would protect the children of these individuals to make sure that the money goes for their benefit.

Even though I don't agree with Pop's decision to sit out four of his top five players against the Miami Heat, the NBA champions, he is the coach and that's his decision. What happens among him and the Spurs and David Stern doesn't concern me. My beef is all the hype that the media and some of our Spurs fans are calling a brutal schedule.

OK, it's four games in five nights. If you played the whole game, (which you never do ), it would be less than 1 hour a day, plus practice and flight time traveling. Maybe it would amount to a full day's work, as the rest of the hard-working Americans and our troops all over the world put in. But if you want to call something “brutal,” think about those who work outside, in the blistering heat during the summer and the severe cold in the winter. Some of them have to work 50 to 60 hours a week to support their families.

Maybe if Tim, Tony and Manu (not Danny Green he's too young to get tired in four games) were rested before the Heat game, they could have come back and beaten the Heat with the Big 3.

As you know, Republicans, such as Colin Powell, endorsed President Barack Obama. Powell said he had no idea what Gov. Romney stood for as he was constantly changing positions. Romney said what he felt people wanted to hear and knocked Obama whether it was true or not.

Romney believes that corporations are people; of course, they are not, and this belief allows them to give money to pacs, which go to politicians so they can do their bidding.

Kay MacDonald launched her pessimistic rant with this statement: “With almost half the country dissatisfied with the direction this country is going ... ”

An optimist could say, “With more than half the country satisfied with the way things are going ... ,” but then they would both be wrong. I don't believe anyone is satisfied 100 percent with the way things are going, but for good reason most weren't willing to take a chance on Mitt Romney.

It's good to want to change things, but be careful what you replace them with. The most dismaying thing I learned this election cycle was how little Romney supporters knew about their own candidate. They just wanted Obama out. It became the No. 1 Republican priority four years ago. Had the economy been their priority, we might not find ourselves teetering on the fiscal cliff.

MacDonald and company would do well to realize that not everyone who supported Obama is a “gimme dat” liberal and stop sorting people into one of two boxes. Putting 47 percent in one box and 53 percent in the other is the primary reason her candidate lost. The irony is that Romney received only about 47 percent of the vote. Just deserts!

In 2008, President Obama won with an overwhelming majority of the popular and electoral vote. After that election, his opponents tried to invalidate his legitimacy with unfounded conspiracy theories. Still in 2012, he overwhelmingly won re-election with 53 percent of the popular vote and 332 electoral votes. But some still refuse to accept him as president. In the last 60 years, I have never seen such hate and disdain directed against a president, including some Republican members of the House of Representatives who have vowed to obstruct and who have refused to compromise, even if it means bringing this country to the brink of financial disaster. Their loathing of Obama appears to be greater than their devotion to duty and to country.

Now the Obama has presented a plan to again avoid financial disaster at the end of this year, the Republicans have a right to reject it. However, they also have a duty and responsibility to come up with an alternative plan and to work with the president to find common ground to avoid the looming fiscal cliff. If they want to make deeper cuts to Medicare and Social Security, they should be willing to tell the American people. House Speaker Boehner must have the courage to lead or get out of the way.

Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should also get over it and accept the fact that the American people agreed with Obama that the wealthy should pay more taxes.